They were your best friend, your comrade, or even someone you simply owed a debt to. Or maybe, unfortunately, you were the one that put them in danger that lead to their demise. No matter what they were to you in life, in their death, you feel as if you have one duty to them. They left behind someone, someone they loved more than anything. This was their significant other, yet you promised your dying companion (or you discerned yourself) that you would look after them. Take care of them, maybe, but at least look after them; it's the least you can do.
It will not be easy, especially not at first. The one left behind will be grieving, of course, and, so, perhaps, will you. There may be some contention, depending on the situation, and, if you did not know each other well before, some awkwardness. Still, in this time where there is nothing and no one to cling to, when the world has been thrown off its axis for them, both of you may find a sort of comfort and solace in this new routine.
That will not last, either.
Soon, feelings begin to change towards each other. Edges soften, people are seen in a new light. A small warmth blossoms between the two of you in this cold world. It takes root and grows, and grows, and grows...
Until you're left with questions and possibly even guilt at this arrangement. How much of this is real and how much is the grieving process? Are you just a replacement for the one they lost?
Is this what their lost love would have wanted?
✖ Comment with your character, canon, and preferences, including preferred role.
✖ Reply to others and use the RNG.
✖ Feel free to be as liberal with the interpretations of pretty much anything in this meme. Make it AU. Make up somebody they both know. Have them be total strangers. There's options for everything.
- Promise ✖ You told them you would take care of their lover, no matter what. You intend to follow through with that.
- Close ✖ What are friends for if not taking care of unfinished business?
- Debt Owed ✖ Kindness or favor has to be repaid, even if it's an investment in someone else.
- Atonement ✖ Whether or not you particularly cared for the person who's gone is irrelevant. You just need to make up for past sins.
- No Good ✖ You're taking care of the one left behind, but not out of good intentions. There may be ulterior motives here - no, there are definitely ulterior motives here. Or maybe this is the one good thing you've done in your life.
- Guilt ✖ It's your fault that you're here and their significant other isn't. It's a paltry repayment.
- Bearer of Bad News ✖ You can't blame them for wanting to shoot the messenger. You are telling them their lover is dead.
- Related ✖ In days past, the living partner would be cared for by their dead partner's family. As a sibling or cousin of the deceased, you want to continue that tradition and take care of "family."
- Wo/man Up ✖ Actually, their lover isn't dead, they're just dead to you, unable or unwilling to take care of business. You're stepping up.
- Friends ✖ You were all friends before, so it's only natural for you to want to look out for them now.
- Derisive ✖ ...this is the person they loved so much? This is who you're supposed to protect? Pathetic.
- Resentful ✖ You can never forgive them. They're the reason your lover is dead, no matter how they treat you.
- What They Saw in You ✖ You're beginning to see why someone would love them, how they'd want to give up their old ways and change. It's almost...nice.
- Warming Up ✖ If you didn't get along at first, the claws are being put away now. It's better to at least be civil, isn't it?
- Still in Danger ✖ Whatever killed one half of the pair is still out there, and the other half is in danger themselves.
- Other Complications ✖ Not only did your mutual acquaintance leave behind a lover, but also children. You find yourself getting closer and closer to them, too, even if they aren't yours.
- Compromised ✖ You can't look after them with a level head. You love them.
- Can't Love Again ✖ You've lost before. You can't risk losing again, can you?
- Out of the Dark ✖ One or both of you find yourselves in a hole. You can barely eat, hardly sleep, and depression has taken hold of you. Together, though, you may find the light and a way out of despair.
- First Time ✖ Simply what it says. You two have taken your relationship to the next level.
- Changed ✖ Before, you were bitter. Hard. Jaded. Now, helping someone - specifically, helping this person - has brought a new kind of joy into your life. You could get used to it. Easily and dangerously used to it, to be brutally honest. You shouldn't allow it.
- Living Together ✖ You can take care of them more throughly if you're in the same place as they are, obviously.
- Hidden Jealousy ✖ When their lover was alive, you were jealous of everything they had - including the fact that they had the person you're looking after now. Admitting this may make you feel like the most awful person in the world.
- Secrets Revealed ✖ Eventually, your involvement with the death of their beloved will come out, and they will never be able to look at you the same way.
- Dependent ✖ Replacing one unhealthy habit with another, you've become utterly dependent on your relationship with your caretaker, your guardian, your lover.
- Won't Be a Replacement ✖ You can't help but feel as if you're merely serving as a stand in for what they've lost. It's understandable, yet you still can't allow yourself to be that and only that.
- Not Really Gone ✖ What is dead should stay dead, but what if who you thought was gone isn't really out of the picture? Will they be happy with finding someone else so cozy and in love with their special someone?
- The Same Mistakes ✖ You're falling into the same patterns that lead to their death. Will you meet the same fate?
- Who's Helping Who ✖ You think you're taking care of them and helping them through their loss. Is that the case? But who's never been this happy before in their life?
- Move On ✖ It's time to put ghosts to rest and let old demons go. You can't let your life become a graveyard.
- Tragedy ✖ The ending is unhappy or even deadly for both of you.
- Happy Ending ✖ In contrast to the above, you're both able to live as together as happily as you possibly can, whatever can be allowed.
- WILDCARD
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bakerstreet2014-07-13 12:04 am
no subject
Stiffly, he sat up and crossed his legs, taking his weapon apart and cleaning it carefully before he replaced it its case. He eyed Clint as the man did the same thing across from him and he frowned at the mention of ice cream. The Soldier wasn't used to be rewarded that way and he forced himself to remember that he was James, not the Soldier.
"I'm not sure I should go out," he admitted. His grip on reality was not the greatest right now and it was definitely a good step that he realized it. There were always days when he couldn't quite put together who and what and where, or his programming flared up again.
no subject
A shrug, "And y'know, because I like ice cream. It's a staple food as far as I'm concerned, got plenty to share, might still have some of those waffle-cone bowls left, too. I'll have to check." He shrugged again, making sure he'd stowed everything correctly, "I mean, you don't have to, if you don't want to, but you're welcome to stick around for the ice cream."
no subject
"That sounds fine," he told him. "I wouldn't mind. I just... I'm on edge today."
no subject
Back in his apartment he dug through cabinets in the kitchen, finally coming up with the waffle cone bowls. He checked to make sure they hadn't gone stale before he tugged open the freezer, "I've got options, you like lumpy things in your ice cream or not?"
no subject
"No, it didn't," he agreed, standing almost motionless in front of Clint. He struggled to relax on good days. Since Steve... Well he didn't relax as much as he needed to be doing. He also didn't think to take care of himself sometimes though Steve had helped considerably in that department.
Bucky shrugged at the question, "It doesn't matter." Decision making was hard. Most of the time it was just easier to let other people pick.
no subject
He'd gone for the plain vanilla, popping the jar of hot fudge into the microwave while he scooped, "Natasha likes the lumpy kind, gives her something to do, she says, and Steve..." He bit his tongue then, cutting himself off, though he continued again a moment later, quieter, "Didn't like anything between him and the ice cream except marshmallow topping."
no subject
"Hydra didn't feed me ice cream," he responded, voice a little clipped. He wasn't entirely recovered from their fake mission and it was making him tense, on top of him talking about his captivity.
However, he was still missing a lot of things in his memories, including likes and dislikes so it was completely relevant.
Bucky was silent at the mention of Steve before he finally said, "He always preferred to keep things simple."
no subject
He emerged from the kitchen a moment later, bowl in each hand, handing one over to Bucky before dropping himself down onto the couch with a huff, "TV? Or will that make it worse?" He knew sometimes when he was on-edge TV, any sort of background noise, just wound him up that much tighter, but sometimes it didn't.
no subject
Bucky accepted the bowl that Clint brought him and couldn't resist smelling it out of habit. Hydra wouldn't kill him but they tested him anyway. They didn't want a mole poisoning their greatest weapon.
"No, it might help," he replied, staying standing to the side of the couch. "Things that are different from what They would have done are good."
It reminded him he was in the here and now.
no subject
He nodded at the statement, rooting for the remote for a moment before he managed to find it, flipping through saved shows and deciding on classic Warner Brothers cartoons instead of reality TV, less chance of unexpected violence, and only the ridiculous kind of explosions, "You can sit down, if you want."
no subject
He hesitated briefly at the invitation and scanned the room, judging his options. It was purely habit; there was no safer place in the world than the Tower right now.
"Alright," he said finally and chose the opposite end of the couch from Clint. Bucky swirled his ice cream idly as he watched the cartoons and then tried his ice cream. It was good. He liked it. "Maybe this coyote should stop buying those ACME products."
no subject
And he'd probably research it later, because the not-knowing would bother him to no end, as not being sure if he was remembering something right always had, but especially since Loki.
no subject
"I don't know Marvin the Martian," Bucky said, taking a bite of his ice cream. "Do you always watch children's shows?" He wasn't judging him. He was just trying to figure out things Clint enjoyed so he could make him happy like he promised a certain Captain.
no subject
He nodded at the question, "Because yeah, I watch cartoons a lot. Helps me unwind, you know?" Something that was somehow both pointless and often clever, without being high-tension like any serial drama on TV was good for him, in theory.